Dan Pfeiffer: “Three years later, the Republican Party is now an insurrectionist party. Trump is stronger than ever and the undisputed leader. He is more popular among Republicans than during his presidency and leading Joe Biden in the polls — something that never happened during the 2020 cycle. Nearly every Republican of consequence has endorsed his presidential campaign; and even those yet to endorse him explicitly or implicitly, endorsed the idea that the 2020 election was stolen. The few Republicans who actively stood up to Trump have been drummed out of the primary…”
“Standing by the Big Lie that led to January 6th is the price of admission into the GOP. You have to either believe the election was stolen or pretend to believe it. Apocalyptic rhetoric and kooky conspiracies are the norm…”
“The process by which the Republican Party went from shunning Trump to embracing him and his authoritarian, anti-democratic rhetoric happened steadily and stunningly. Trump’s second rise to power is a metaphor for everything that is wrong with the Republican Party. Trump didn’t reclaim the Republican Party by force. Instead, party leaders handed it to him out of cynical convenience and pure cowardice.”
